Any reliable/secure personal (not running a business) alternatives to Paypal in the USA?

[Orpheus]

I am looking to deal less with Paypal & am in the middle of doing my due diligence research wise in finding alternatives that are:

- Available within the USA

- Offered to individuals who just want a personal account, not run a small business.

I have heard about:

- Google Wallet: Unfortunately it looks like they are more about the mobile payment business & you have to have a device to install their service, in the form of an application, to (which I don't have as my Iphone & MacBook are ancient & unsupported)

- Amazon WebPay: Sounds like one of the most promising options. Sounds like paypal but with a name change to amazon....and no fee's.

- WePay: More business centric on the outside but after digging deeper I see that they welcome personal accounts like on Paypal.

- ProPay: This US based service is the only other payment method that can be used on ebay other than paypal. Seems personal account friendly as well.

- Dwolla: Just gave it an quick once over & it seems to be the shit. Only a 25cent fee for any transaction. Anyone have any experience?


So far it is looking like Dwolla, Amazon WebPay & ProPay are the top 3 contenders.

So, can anyone here have any feedback/advice based on experience?

Please remember that I am computer/mobile device deprived right now.

Also worth noting is that I don't need to narrow it down to just one choice. Going with more than one is probably what will be happening as i'm all about diversifying right now.

 

[Nickrb]

Moneybookers is (was?) a good payment service, a lot like paypal. Used this four or five years ago several times with no problems. Think they are UK based- but I have no issues sending or receiving payments in the USA. At one point they had a tie in with ebay.

If you are really talking personal- like easy bank transfers with a friend- I had a good experience (again four or five years ago) with a site called Zashpay (now Popmoney). But no credit cards, and it is basically a mechanism for easy/cheap bank transfers.

Again, my experiences are very dated and therefore should be taken with a grain of salt.

 

[Orpheus]

Moneybookers is (was?) a good payment service, a lot like paypal. Used this four or five years ago several times with no problems. Think they are UK based- but I have no issues sending or receiving payments in the USA. At one point they had a tie in with ebay.

If you are really talking personal- like easy bank transfers with a friend- I had a good experience (again four or five years ago) with a site called Zashpay (now Popmoney). But no credit cards, and it is basically a mechanism for easy/cheap bank transfers.

Again, my experiences are very dated and therefore should be taken with a grain of salt.

Tank you for sharing your experiences.
I will look into these.
I will be sending receiving payments as I sell off alot of the stuff I acquired over time as well as personal (family & friends) transfers, like when I need to throw my little sis some scratch to come home.

Anyone else?

 

[Cousin_Itt]

I've heard good things about Amazon we pay. I've read that you can only send money to another person (nonmerchant)via funds in account and not via credit card else you would have to upgrade to small business account. My uncle uses it since he buys everything on amazon.

 

[Orpheus]

I've heard good things about Amazon we pay. I've read that you can only send money to another person (nonmerchant)via funds in account and not via credit card else you would have to upgrade to small business account. My uncle uses it since he buys everything on amazon.

Thanks for sharing Cousin.

Anyone else w/ any experiences?

 

[Adderall]

not paypal
available in the US
offered to individuals, not businesses


I am really tempted to put in a plug for bitcoin. I've been using it to send (basically) instant, (basically) fee free $$ to my brother in France. There is no buyer/seller protection as it's basically like cash, once you hand it over it's a done deal... no problems with frozen accounts or shit like that. The only problem, besides your own personal reservations you may have is that there is a lot of FUD about it that makes other people shy away from it. Now that newegg, overstock, etc are accepting it though, that may change. Coinbase.com makes it really easy to acquire BTC for buying/selling purposes. You don't need to worry about price fluctuations if you convert back to USD after a sale.

Just a thought. I'm not a diehard BTC guy, although I do use and own a fair amount of it.